Christmas truce experience sees Northbourne Park pupils visit trenches and play football like 1914 soldiers
06:00, 24 December 2019
Senior pupils of Northbourne Park School near Deal learned what Christmas was like in the trenches when they visited Ypres in Belgium
They met a WW1 recruiting sergeant reenactor on the Christmas Truce tour when they saw where Allied and German soldiers made peace temporarily over a game of football.
The reenactor was keen to persuade them to sign-up for the British Expeditionary Force followed by another sergeant, who talked them through a new recruit’s kit including rifle, puttees, helmet and the famous trench coat.
For lunch they tucked into a typical trench meal - vegetable stew and Belgian sausage.
Later at Ploegsteert Wood Military Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, they saw the location of trenches where the truce between German and English soldiers took place.
At the Hooge Crater Museum, they re-enacted the truce and our pupils joined in with a rendition of Silent Night.
After an evening meal in Ypres town, the tour culminated with the heads of school laying a wreath at the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate, the memorial for over 54,000 soldiers who died in Belgium and have no known grave.
Head of history Christie Riley said: “All the children were exemplary throughout the day and I am sure this tour has had a powerful impact on them, often raising more questions than answers.”
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